The initial moments of Beyoncé's inauguration performance were fraught with confusion, after…
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Beyoncé did not sing the national anthem live at President Obama's inauguration.

Millions of viewers around the world were stunned by the singer's spectacular rendition of the anthem but The Times has learnt that she was lip-syncing to a pre-recorded backing track.

A spokeswoman for the Marine Corp Band said it was standard procedure to record a backing track and Beyoncé decided shortly before her performance to rely on the studio version rather than risk singing it live on the Capitol.

In any case, for a consummate performer such as Beyoncé, whose entire star is based on the perfection of contrivance like she's the queen of beauty queens, this proves is as good at lip-synching as she is everything else. The unneeded ear-piece removal was a glorious touch. And she would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling journalists.